Ed's Heresy Kill-Teams: Custodians and ruins

[Battybattybats]

Very cool, and interesting the way things matched up, i think that stumbles onto some of the classical inspiration for some early GW lore.

[Grand Master Laertes]

 when you apply them to the Chaos gods you end up with the right powers opposing each other, so Khorne and Tzeentch are at opposite sides of the compass, as are Slaanesh and Nurgle. 

 

I hate to contradict such a great hobbist, but that way the gods are not opposed properly according to the fluff. The opposite of Khorne has always been Slaanesh, while Nurgle is the enemy of Tzeentch (unless you are referring to an arcane lore source I've never heard of?).

[malika666]

 

 when you apply them to the Chaos gods you end up with the right powers opposing each other, so Khorne and Tzeentch are at opposite sides of the compass, as are Slaanesh and Nurgle. 

 

I hate to contradict such a great hobbist, but that way the gods are not opposed properly according to the fluff. The opposite of Khorne has always been Slaanesh, while Nurgle is the enemy of Tzeentch (unless you are referring to an arcane lore source I've never heard of?).

 

Both are kind of true. Khorne truly despises magic, Tzeentch sort of being the 'embodiment' of magic would make them rather opposites. On the other hand Slaanesh and Khorne are known to be sworn enemies, there were even rules for that in the 3rd edition Chaos Codex if I'm not mistaken.

[Daemon2027]

I thought Tzeentch and Nurgle were opposed, the first being eternal mutation, change, rebirth, while the latter is death and decay.

 

The Dark Mechanicum models look fantastic. The idea behind the new stuff is good, however you decide to develop if.

[Quixus]

 

 

 when you apply them to the Chaos gods you end up with the right powers opposing each other, so Khorne and Tzeentch are at opposite sides of the compass, as are Slaanesh and Nurgle. 

 

I hate to contradict such a great hobbist, but that way the gods are not opposed properly according to the fluff. The opposite of Khorne has always been Slaanesh, while Nurgle is the enemy of Tzeentch (unless you are referring to an arcane lore source I've never heard of?).

 

Both are kind of true. Khorne truly despises magic, Tzeentch sort of being the 'embodiment' of magic would make them rather opposites. On the other hand Slaanesh and Khorne are known to be sworn enemies, there were even rules for that in the 3rd edition Chaos Codex if I'm not mistaken.

 

Khorne and Tzeentch and Slaanesh and Nurgle may disagree on methods and focus but the polar opposites are the other pairings.

To put it (over)simply:

Khorne wants skulls, Slaanesh basically hinders the reaping of skulls through its torture and other excesses. Slaanesh however sees no benefit in quickly and methodically killing since dead people cannot feel.

Tzeentch is a paranoid schemer, but at the core it still tries to build something, which is fluid and constantly changing. Nurgle on the other hand seeks to destroy through disease and corrosion. Additionally it seeks to make its followers resistant and unchanging.

[EdT]

Oh god, how did I not see that? How embarassing- thanks @Grandmaster Laertes for kindly pointing out my Chaotic rivalry confusion. Change vs Entropy; Purity of Purpose vs Indulgence. That's a proper division! Here's a revised diagram- nothing stopping the Davinites from associating different directions with the humours compared to Old Earth.

 

 

Anyhow, let's move on from my carelessness; got some progress to show. First off, here's Ivlen- and yes, @Malika666, that is an Evilcraft chainsword. I felt it perfectly fit the aesthetic and looked like it really could be a relic of prelapsarian Davin. The main change is that he's glued together, has a new, more agressive head and some accessories. Bar a bit of greenstuff cleanup on the wrist and another layer of hair on the back of his head, he's more or less done. One down, eight to go!

 

 

I've spent a fair bit of time this morning doing hair; not something I've really tried before, so it's a bit intimidating, but I'm fairly pleased with the results. Here's Kenrich with shoulders and a partial head of lank, dirty hair; when this has dried I'll add a little more, but the effect more or less matches what I had in my head, which is always nice! For some reason the camera hasn't quite picked up the texture on there, but there is some I promise...

 

 

 

Next up, a new acolyte; Kinrech's twin Mutengke, who is equally unpleasant. He's stronger in the sorcerous arts than Kinrech (falling in between Nurgle and Tzeentch as he does), but the bickering of two gods over his soul makes him subordinate to his brother.

 

 

 

One final WIP; this is a Tagoga, who occupies the position between Tzeentch and Slaanesh. She's still very WIP and will probably have some hair at some point in the future, although part of me quite likes her baldness as being unnatural. She's vaguely inspired by this card from the CCG, but I didn't think the original looked very Davinite so I tried to go for something a bit less generic sci-fi.

 

[EdT]

Hi all,

 

Made a bit of progress on the Davinites- slow going, as work has been hectic, but it is slowly getting somewhere...

 

First off, Tagoga now has some hair. I originally sculpted something a bit straggly, but it didn't suit the model; in the end I just went for a topknot, which looked a bit barbaric while retaining the odd baldness.

 

 

And speaking of hair, Kenrich now has all of his. I'm looking forward to painting him...

 

 

Now, on to some new cultists. Firstly, Reldred, who occupies the Tzeenchian space on the plan. He's based off my favourite of all the Davinites, Tsi Rekh; I love the combination of dignity and barbarism in the illustration. There's still a lot of work to be done on him- I need to add a topknot, a fur trim to the right pauldron and put in a necklace to make it resemble the illustration more- but I like where he is so far.

 

 

 

And finally, the Lodge Mistress herself, Mother Kadru, who sits at the centre of the eight-pointed star. I wanted her to be obviously corrupted by the ruinous powers, and the Bloodwrack Medusa was an obvious starting point. She's more or less done really, although I have some joins to tidy up.

 

 

I've also given some thought to the base; I've been quite keen to try some static grass, so my plan is to put them on a stretch of rocky moorland, possibly with a standing stone somewhere. Obviously the lodge members will be arranged into an eight-pointed star with Mother Kadru at the centre, but how best to deliniate the symbol? I thought of using standing stones, but that seems slightly dull; I then thought I'd go a bit macabre and have the eight pointed star marked using ritually-sacrificed corpses, a bit like how the White Walkers did things in Game of Thrones. This seems great in thematic terms, but I'm not sure I'm really in the mood to paint quite so many bloody bodies- seems a bit morbid. I've compromised and gone for the old Warhammer standard of skulls- a couple of boxes of the cheap but rather nice Wargames Factory Skeleton Warriors are on the way, and will litter the base in a carefully-placed pattern.

 

More soon, I hope!

[Studio Silvernale]

omg I need that bloodrack medusa for my Alpha Legion =O

[HighGothic]

This is great, as per usual, however I think mother kadru looks too slaaneshy. She needs some stuff from the other three gods.

[Wolfmerc]

I agree with High Gothic,she could benefit from some sinister looking armor, or perhaps a pruning of all the snakes on the base.

[lokkorex]

Freaking unbelievably awesome!

 

All of it!

 

The dark mechanicus are especially inspired, way to go not making just "spike mechanicus". :)

[EdT]

Thanks all. On Mother Kadru, there's certainly meant to be sexuality there but not Slaaneshiness per se, although I can completely see where people are coming from given the parts I've used. She is basically a fertility symbol, representing the snake in the mythical aspect of healer and nurturer; and while fertility is about sex, it isn't just about sex. The creation and nurturing of new life is something Nurgle takes joy in; the ecstatic frenzy of the Bacchae is as Khornate as it is Slaaneshy, and Tzeench is all about endless rebirth and renweal.
 

I think that the paintjob will reduce the Slaanesh aspect of things quite a bit; she'll have a much more natural colouring then daemons normally get, the snakes will be disturbingly fleshy with engorged heads, and the slimy drips won't be blood... I also have some children in mind.

 

A bit of other progress. I did a tester for my base this evening; as I mentioned before, I was going for a moorland theme. This was my first time using static grrass and I'm actually really pleased with the result! The final version will have bones arranged in the shape of the octed, with Mother Kadru on a big pile of them

 

[EdT]

Hi all!

It's been a while- work has been rather busy- but after a month or so doing other stuff, I'm spending a bit more time on the Warhammer again, and I have a few interesting things to show you. Like many people, I was tempted into picking up a copy of Age of Sigmar- not so much for the bland and rather depressing background, but because the models are quite nice. The idea of turning the Stormcast Immortals into Custodian Guard isn't exactly the most original one in the world- Kizzdoug's Custodian is beautiful- but I thought it'd be fun. Besides, the first post in this thread is of a Custodian, so it's a nice way of seeing how well my painting and modelling has come along. Here's my test model, who is still pretty WIP- his comrades will have helmets, but I'm still waiting on the parts for those...



Of course, as ever, having decided on doing a few models, I felt I needed a theme for the scenic base, ideally one that had me learning a new skill- and then things grew from there. I did some thinking about where you'd see Custodians; the obvious place was the Imperial Palace on Terra, but how can you do justice to that? Then an alternative theme came to mind; presumably quite a few Custodians must have been in the webway when Magnus came through and trashed everything, cutting off their route home? I thought it might be interesting to have a small group of Custodians (and maybe a Sister of Silence) emerging from an overgrown webway gate on a long-abandoned Maiden World; and perhaps thinking, as they regard the lost glories of the Eldar Empire, that this could one day be the fate of the Imperium.

At this point, I'm aware that I risk verging into the realms of Heresy; but I hope given that the Xenos scenery I'm making is ruined and the models involved are human, I'm still on the right side of the line. Besides, I think the methods I've used might make some great bases for Astartes bludgeoning their way through a Craftworld. So with that in mind, here's how I've got on in making some Eldar architechture.

 

My first step was to work out some good shapes. This wasn't too difficult- Eldar stuff is all compound curves with bits cut out. Here's what fifteen minutes in photoshop got me; one webway gate, and one pylon.

 

 

That's all well and good, but I needed a way of transferring this from the computer to paper. Luckily, I found a material potentially perfect for the job that I really wanted to try.

 

 

It's called balsa foam, and it's bloody amazing. It's a very light resin foam that is resilient enough to take normal handling, but also soft enough for a knife to cut through like butter, and it can be sanded very easily. It's kind of like a slightly harder version of the green stuff that florists use; perfect for carving the sortof smooth organic wraithbone structures that the Eldar use. It cost me about a £20for two a sheet slightly larger than A4 andf thicker than I needed, which I thought was excellent value for what I got.

 

 

Having printed out my shapes on paper, it was then very easy to trace them onto the balsa foam using a swivel knife. This left enough of an impression for me to go over it again using a needle, which I could then score again and again until the shape could be pressed out. Here's the result;

 

 

You might notice that the pylon on the left is pretty rough compared to the one on the right; that's the difference that a minute of gentle sanding makes. Here's where I've got so far...

 

 

There's still a lot of work to do, as you can see; the pylon and the webway gates are looking ok, but need to be detailed with gems and distressed. One of them will have collapsed entirely, while the others will look distinctly shaky in parts. Then there's the floor; it'll be circular wraithbone tiles that used to fit together perfectly, but over the milennia have cracked and split apart.

 

So that's where I am so far! More soon I hope...

[Nomus Sardauk]

Emperor's teeth, that Custodian looks awesome. Very nice work EdT!

[oldschoolsavant]

Was close to bumping this yesterday, just to see if you were around. Nice to see some new stuff, but there's old stuff to complete too. ;)

[Sgt. Blank]

This whole thread is tremendous but I gotta say that your Custodes is the best I've seen so far using the new Sigmar stuff. I think you've added enough 40k touches to put him firmly in the grim darkness of the far future.

 

The diorama is an amazing idea and it looks like it's coming together already. How does that foam take paint? You may want to avoid spray primer. I ruined a terrain piece years ago when the primer melted it.

[Kizzdougs]

Awesome work, dude!! That Custode is perfect! Looking forward to seeing some more :tu:

[Dantay VI]

Custodes, looka absolutely amazing, I like the wreath you put on the Sternguard head.

 

The custodes were everywhere, remember they played blood games, where some custodes would disappear into the galaxy at large and then try to get to the Emperor and assassinate him. Wargames for transhumans... They were in Hy Brasil for negotiations trying to uncover Horus' spies. They were on Nikea for the Librarius Proclomation, They were also on Prospero for the razing and with the Word Bearers to keep tabs on them...

 

So the theme and universe is your oyster... I do like the Eldar scenery though :)

 

Keep going with it, I really like what I am seeing. Will the hammers be going from the armour or will they be staying?

[EdT]

Thanks all, it's good to be back doing this stuff again. Although it's also nice to be busy earning the money that pays for it- so swings and roundabouts, I guess!

 

 

@Kizzdougs, thanks- mine will never look as pretty as yours, but I'm pleased where he is so far. The ultimate goal is to sort out some proper Custodes helmets for the others; I currently have some placeholders based on High Elf helmets, but they are perhaps a little small compared to the ones in the artwork. I have an idea there though...

 

@Dantay, I can't claim credit for the wreath on the Custodian's head- it's actually a component from the new Ultramarine chapter upgrade set. I thought it worked perfectly as a battle honour or mark of veterancy. As for the hammers, I'll keep the odd one, but generally I want them replaced with eagle motifs; I'll be cracking out the greenstuff. Good point on the dispersal of Custodians; I imagine that a small group of them could do a lot of damage to the Traitor cause as they wander through the webway stopping off at various warzones in an attempt to get back to Terra.

 

@Sgt Blank, thanks for the warning on spray paints. I'll definitely need to seal the balsa foam before I try to paint it; it's very absorbent and I suspect that it would damage a paintbrush as much as a paintbrush would damage it, were I to try and do anything prematurely. Apparently though it becomes rock hard, very durable and paintable when given a few coats of watered-down wood glue. I'll do some experimenting before I get too enthusiastic with making progress...

 

And speaking of progress, I have some to show. You might remember in the last post that the floor was looking slab-like and featureless? Well no more. First I went over it with my printout and a swivel knife...

 

 

I then cut each tile out, sanded it to be reasonably smooth, and then placed them on my base (it's a glass platter that cost me £2- look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves!) one by one so that I knew where each went. This took a long time and was a bit stressful; if they'd got jumbled up, it'd have been a very difficult jigsaw puzzle to get them back together... As I sanded, I made some tiles thinner, some sit at an angle etc, to show how the shifting ground over milennia has gradually shifted them apart from the seamless join they'd have had when new. This also allows space for grass to grow between them, which should really help the ruined feel. When I was finished (and this was a very long job), I picked each up, put some PVA glue on the bottom so that they'd be fixed in place, and then replaced them. Here's what they looked like at this point...

 

 

The next job was to weather the tiles to make them look cracked and eroded. This was very easy and basically involved a lot of scraping and prodding with a needle; again, I found myself pretty amazed with how good this balsa foam stuff is.

 

 

 

After getting most of that done I needed to do something more stimulating, so I added the first pylon and a bit of detail. Albert Speer used to design buildings on the basis that they'd look good when ruined; I thought I'd take a leaf out of his book, so I found the ropiest of the four pylons that I'd made, and made that the one that was going to collapse. This was easy- I made a small cut along the line where I thought the structure would be under the most stress, and then snapped the thing in half with my hands, meaning that the resulting break looked quite realistic. I haven't talked about them because it probably pitches me over into heresy, but the structure will be guarded by some ancient Eldar constructs, not quite wraithguard per se, but perhaps their ancestors. I wanted it to be purposefully unclear whether they were still active or not, and they will be just as overgrown as the rest of the ruins. I wanted one of these guardians to be crushed by the collapsing pylon, so, placing one in the requisite spot underneath, I acted out the collapse in slow motion in order to work out the realistic place where things would end up, as well as if further breaks were neccesary. In the end both the pylon and the guardian ended up in four parts each; I'm pleased with how it currently looks...

 

 

To support the pylon and to give everything some depth and topography, I've added a thin layer of clay around the completed section of ruin. This will eventually form the soil layer and have static grass on top. I've also added a few other bits of detail, most obviously some local xeno-wildlife startled by the sudden arrival of the Custodians and dashing away (they're these adorable pieces from Hasslefree). More to come soon...

[Daemon2027]

That is coming together really nicely. It's brilliant to see your thought process. Really gives me ideas for a similar project. I'm sure you have the background for this project worked out but I like to think the custodes are there to take and artefact linked to the web way for the emperor.

[malika666]

Hmm, been thinking...

 

The Eldar fought alongside the Imperium against Horus (maybe not all the Eldar, but there have been several mentions of them allying with the Imperium against Horus, like that famous quote "we don't fight for your Emperor, but against Horus" from the old fluff). Might be nice to have a 'nod' to that. So that Magnus' little spell caused a lot of damage to the Webway, which also affected many Eldar worlds. Maybe these Custodes got stranded on an Eldar world, and not only end up fighting the xenos, but also all the daemons that spilled over. Perhaps after a while the Eldar and custodes decide to team up against the daemons.

 

Food for thought.

[EdT]

Hi all,

Mammoth post today as I've made progress on this in a number of ways. Here’s a shot of where I the base is so far; as you can see, the pylons are now in place, everything is distressed, and with the exception of the webway gate itself, the basics are all fixed in place.

 

 

The main construction job I needed to do at this point was to seal the balsa foam. This was gratifyingly easy; I stirred some water into some wood glue, made sure it was a smooth mix, and then brushed it on, making sure that everything was covered but also that the glue didn’t pool in the recesses and cracks. A few hours later, once it dried, I did a second coat to be sure of things. This definitely had the desired result; the balsa foam looked exactly the same and no detail seems to have been lost, but instead of being a bit sandy and easily scratched, it had gone rock hard. I won’t be gaming with this base, but I reckon that it would be durable enough for me to do so if I wanted.

The reason that I haven’t added the webway gate on yet is because I need it to be removable; I still need to add the effect of the portal on there, and this can only really be done once the rest of the gate is painted. Here’s a picture of it in the meantime; the rune inscribed towards the bottom means “Webway” in Eldar script, although I did have to check and reassure myself that I wasn’t adding a variant of Slaanesh’s icon by mistake… (mind you, if I did than that might fit the pre-fall Eldar feel nicely). The portal effect is just some paper cut to fit the gate at the moment; I'm hoping that once it's sealed, glossed and given a wavy texture using some gloss gel, it'll look quite nice. 

 

While I had the wood glue out I also used it to make sure that the crushed gate guardian and associated rubble was securely attached to the base. You might notice that some bits around the rubble are grey; this is a light coating of a pumice stone textured paste. I added this because Wraithbone is meant to be alive and has a limited ability to repair itself; I figured that the pumice vaguely replicated the sort of fitful regeneration of tissue that happens around a broken bone in the human body.

 

Which brings me on to the intact Gate Guardians. I’ll cover these briefly as they’re xenos artefacts, albeit inactive ones, but I’ve used Wraithguard as a base and converted their stances and weaponry to be more antique and statue-like. At this point I’m aware that they aren’t looking very terrain-like; when I’m done they’ll be fundamentally intact but overgrown, the overall look I’m aiming for being like the derelict robot in Laputa.

 

 

Finally on the base, I've been lucky; one of the bits sites had the brilliant little selection of critters that comes with the WHFB Treeman model for sale, and I was able to snap them up. There are some really nice-looking creatures on there that will look suitably alien when painted up and will complement the dog-like things nicely. I particularly like the four-winged feathered things on the left, and I'll try and build a little nest/hive for them in the upper reaches of one of the pylons. 

I’ve also made progress on the interlopers too. Here’s a second WIP Custodian, this time a Signifier; his Signum isn’t quite finished, as it needs some roundels on a chain to dangle from the crossguard, but it’s getting there! I made this guy mostly to have an excuse to use the wonderfully ornate axe he’s wielding from Zealot Miniatures; from the second I got that bit I knew it’d have to end up on a Custodian.

 

 

So far so good; but I didn't feel that the head was really up to standard. As other people seem to have found too, getting a Custodian helmet (As opposed to a Custodian Helmet) to look right is quite a task. Most people either dodge the issue by making the Custodian involved helmetless or go for one of the conical High Elf helms like I did on my first attempt, but if you look at the artwork these only bear a superficial resemblance to what a Custodian should really be wearing. They’re also rather small for the Stormcast bodies, as you can probably see.

What’s needed is a substantial helmet with an Aquila forming the faceguard- and luckily, we’ve just had some of these released. Here’s my initial WIP; I've taken a Suzerain head and the horsehair plume from a High Elf Model, and connected them using a spacer taken from a bit of sprue.

 

 

This forms the skeleton for the conical bit, which I'm going to try and sculpt from greenstuff; this is probably going to put years on me to get it to the requisite smoothness, but it's the best way of going at it, I think; even with the WIP head, the Custodian looks way better.

 

[Ion]

Have you taken a look at the scibor helms for a custodes?

 

http://sciborminiatures.com/en_,shop.php?art=931#i/sierpien_2010/big/sf_helmets_01.jpg

[GhostMalone]

The laputa reference is awesome!

 

Studio chibi ahoy!

[Battybattybats]

The statue-like guardians are especially superb!